Chapter Four #3
Tina stood up and brushed the dirt from the seat of her jeans. “I can’t deny that the hat fit me perfectly, but I’m willing to auction it off to Reesa, Faith, or Sabrina. They seem to be unable to leave their high school days behind.”
Walker’s laughter echoed through the whole area.
“You think that’s funny,” Tina asked.
“Yep, I do,” Walker replied.
“They deserve it,” Tina said, “but I kind of feel sorry for them at the same time.”
“Even after the way they treated you that first day that you worked?” he asked.
Tina held up her thumb and forefinger until they were barely an inch apart. “Bless their hearts. When they grow up, they’ll find that stepping on people doesn’t make them look big except in their own eyes.”
“Didn’t you want to slap the crap out of Reesa when she acted like she did that first day you were working in the feedstore?” Gracie asked. “Walker told me what happened that day. I would have had to superglue my hand to my butt to keep from smacking that smugness right out of her.”
“I would have expected Gracie to keep her cool in that situation, but I’m surprised that you”—Walker pointed at Tina—“were able to keep the blaze in your eyes from setting Reesa on fire.”
“I kept control because I didn’t want my new boss to fire me.” Tina pointed right back at him. “If I remember right, you are the one that always keeps everything bottled up inside. Maybe I learned that from you.”
Gracie’s finger was a blur when it shot up toward the sky. “Did y’all see that? You get to make a wish if you did.”
Tina got a glimpse of the falling star a second before it burned out. She shoved her hand into her pocket and rubbed her thumb and forefinger over the rock, closed her eyes tightly, and wished that Walker and Gracie would always be in her life.
Gracie stood up without taking her eyes off the sky. “What did y’all wish for?”
“That tomorrow goes off without a hitch,” Gracie admitted.
Walker groaned when he stood up. “I thought our wish wouldn’t come true if we told.”
“We tell each other everything,” Gracie argued. “It’s like doctor-patient confidentiality. So it is also against the friendship law to repeat any of it.”
“I asked that the three of us never be parted again,” Tina answered. “I’m home right here in Benson with y’all back in my life.”
Both women looked at Walker.
“My grandmother told me that a shooting star is a wandering soul looking for a place of rest. I didn’t make a wish because I figure that particular falling star is Tina, and since it burned out right over this tree, she is at home,” Walker answered.
“I love that.” Tina hadn’t even realized that she had teared up until she felt moisture on her cheek.
Gracie threw her arm around Tina’s shoulders. “I hear a crack in your voice. I never let anyone cry alone, and I want my last night to be happy, not sad. So dry up those tears and be happy.”
“Don’t say your last night. That sounds like you aren’t ever coming back,” Walker said.
“Hey, y’all remember when we were under this old tree before we all went away to college?” Tina didn’t want to face the idea of Gracie ever living so far away that she didn’t see her but every five or ten years.
Walker’s head bobbed a couple of times. “We thought we had the world by the tail.”
“And ready to set it on fire with all our big plans,” Tina agreed.
Gracie giggled. “Only trouble was, we didn’t have a match.”
“If we had all gone to the same college, Walker could have started a fire with two rocks and a few twigs,” Tina teased.
“Or you could have done it with your Irish temper,” he suggested.
“If I’d taken a jar of my father’s hot sauce with me, I could have shared it with the kids in my dorm and they would have breathed fire for me,” Gracie added.
Walker slapped a mosquito that landed on his arm. “We had the means to set the world on fire, but we didn’t have the wisdom that comes with life experiences.”
Tina noticed half a dozen giant mosquitoes circling her face. “I’ll look like I have chickenpox tomorrow if we stay out here much longer. You both owe me a secret since I told you mine, and I expect you to deliver when Gracie comes home.”
Gracie covered a yawn with her hand as she got to her feet.
“We couldn’t tell everything in one evening, or what would we have to talk about later?
Walker, if you are going to fess up to something I don’t already know, then you have to wait until I get back to do it.
The new rule is that we only get skeletons out of the closet when we are together. ”
“Why do you get to make the rules?” Tina asked as they all started across the road.
Walker nudged her on the shoulder. “Because she’s the smart one, remember?”
Cleo and Mae eased out of their rocking chairs when the trio reached the porch. Tina caught a whiff of something that smelled vaguely familiar as Walker held the door for all four ladies to go inside.
Her expression must have changed, because Walker whispered, “They still use insect repellant when they go outside at this time of year. Remember when they used to take us out on the porch and spray us down before they let us go to the park?”
“I’d forgotten about that.” Tina smiled at the memory.
“What are you kids going to do the rest of the evening?” Cleo asked.
“If you don’t have to do anything else, we thought we’d get out the cards and play a hand or two of gin,” Mae said.
“We’d love to,” Gracie said.
Cleo whipped around and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get the cards.”
“I’ll put out the snacks and pour all five of us a glass of lemonade,” Mae said as she followed her.
“Gracie feels guilty about leaving without telling them the whole story about Dakota,” Tina whispered.
“Yes, I do,” Gracie agreed with a nod. “And I saw a pan of brownies on the counter before we went outside, so I figure they’ve planned this all along.”
Walker wiggled his eyebrows. “Special brownies?”
“I said no secrets until I get back,” Gracie joked. “And to my knowledge, they only make those kinds of brownies for the quilting sessions.”
“I remember when Cleo started growing weed in her greenhouse. She tried to tell me that it was poinsettia plants that she was keeping alive until they bloomed again.”
“I’ve heard that story, too, and I’ve never contradicted her,” Walker said. “She still dries it in the basement.”
“Is it still illegal in Texas?” Tina asked.
“It is, and none of us are supposed to know anything about it,” he answered.
“Sometimes they make a couple of extra pans on quilting night so they can send some home with the other ladies. It helps one of them with her panic attacks and another with her arthritis. The first time I wandered through the garage and heard them talking about taking some home, they said that chocolate was medicine,” Gracie explained.
“I want to grow up to be just like them,” Tina said.
“I figure using a little of that in their cookies and brownies is better than eating painkillers,” Gracie whispered.
“Are y’all going to stand in there fussing with each other all night?” Cleo yelled.
“We’re on our way,” Walker called out and lowered his voice. “The lesson for tonight is, if there are leftovers from quilting night, don’t sneak any of them.”
“Why?” Gracie asked.
“Because you might think you could fly, and last I heard, not even wishing on a falling star will give you the ability to sprout wings,” Tina answered, and led the way out of the foyer and across the living room to the kitchen.
Later that evening, she added the small star-shaped rock to her velvet bag.
Old memories, meet a newcomer, she thought.